Once again, I turned to The Critics section for a shorter read and was not disappointed by "World on a String" by Adam Gopnik. It is about Paul, the saint who spread Christianity to the Gentile world. I've had differences with his teachings, especially his condemnation of homosexuality and diversity in general. But other teachings of his are music to my ears. Consider when he writes, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, and there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." That makes me love Paul, especially since he shares a name with our beloved friend Paul!
I also wonder why he is considered an apostle, since he didn't meet or go with Jesus. The article addresses this by stating that there were essentially three Pauls: the Jewish Paul, the Christian Paul and the Roman Paul. In each mode, he behaves a different way. There's also a hilarious passage about the Jews and circumcision.